Preparing For The Mud: Run, Climb, Jump

byJenonMay 23, 2012

I’m a little less than one month out from my first mud run and I’m doing my best to get prepared for it. I don’t know if you really can prepare for a three-mile run full of unknown obstacles and lots of mud, but I’m doing my best. First, I’ve started talking up the run to my friends and co-workers. I think I have a good group on board to celebrate my birthday by getting muddy! Second, I’ve been mixing up my training and adding in some fun and different activities.

Let me show you. . .

400 meter repeats carrying a 14 pound wall ball. If you want to know what misery feels like, try this. Also effective for attracting weird stares from people on the street.

Box jumps. I can only imagine that we’ll have to jump over things so I’m working to improve my vertical jump. I wore the Coldblack Run Hat (because you know I love to workout in hats and I was intensely sweating!), the Victory Tank and the Shatter II Capris. The tank is ribbed a little heavier in weight but kept me comfortable and dry. I love the capris because they’re compression pants and they feature a wide waste band (which is much more flattering!).

Pushing a weighted sled. If I can run while pushing 50 pounds, I can survive anything.

Rope climbing. I am not a skilled climber, but I am sure that there will be obstacles that require climbing over on the course.

Pull ups. One of my favorite total body training exercises that will help ensure I can get myself up and over anything that comes my way.

And as far as training for the 15K trail race goes, I’ve been focusing on building a training base. In the coming weeks I’ll begin to incorporate weekly trail runs and longer runs into my training mix. I’m looking forward to taking my running off-road.

I’ve really enjoyed documenting my progress towards achieving my goals on the What’s Beautiful Challenge website. The site is really interactive and you can track other participants as well as take on challenges issued by Under Armour.

They range from creating videos of yourself training hard to organizing group workouts to completing the Marine Challenge Physical Fitness Test. I’ve knocked out quite a few so be sure to check out my page and the Challenge website. It’s a fun way to motivate yourself to try new things! It also requires some accountability (which I always find helpful when I’m trying to reach a goal) because you have a set time to accomplish your goal and the Under Armour Challenges if you are brave enough to take them on.

What do you do to empower your workouts? How do you keep yourself challenged while still feeling confident? Let me know to be entered for a chance to win a $500 Under Armour gift card!

Here are all the details on how to enter and the rules.

SWEEPSTAKES/GIVEAWAY RULES

Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion, including exactly the following unique terms in your tweet message: “#whatsbeautiful” “#sweepstakes”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post. To comply with FTC Guidelines (see http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm), entrants’ blog posts must disclose that they are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post.

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

Entries from all participating blogs will be pooled for winner selection; only two entries per household. This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. The Official Rules are available here. This sweepstakes runs from 5/23-6/11.

Be sure to visit the Under Armour page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

I'm Jen and I'm a yoga teacher, personal trainer and fitness instructor who also loves social media, marketing and blogging. I live in Charlotte, North Carolina and write about food, fitness, yoga and life!